


we were creepin' in the night time (maybe in another lifetime)

by moonddun



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Brief Mentions Of OT5, F/F, Fluff and Angst, honestly this is just sappy wenseul, tw : mild violence and blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:35:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24275962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonddun/pseuds/moonddun
Summary: In the third lining of fate, Seungwan sees her, dripping in black with all the misfortune of humanity spread on her back like a curse. The girl shivers, all shriveled up against the dying pine tree, ragged and torn robes barely shielding her from the cold, sharp eyes going feral at the very sight of Seungwan—dark, hopeless eyes.orIn which Seulgi and Seungwan are lost, treading through lifetimes in search of the right one.
Relationships: Kang Seulgi/Son Seungwan | Wendy
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	we were creepin' in the night time (maybe in another lifetime)

In the third lining of fate, Seungwan sees her, dripping in black with all the misfortune of humanity spread on her back like a curse. The girl shivers, all shriveled up against the dying pine tree, ragged and torn robes barely shielding her from the cold, sharp eyes going feral at the very sight of Seungwan—dark, hopeless eyes.

  
  
  


"Cursed nobles..."

  
  
  


Seungwan doesn't know what to say. The girl is staring menacingly at her attire, all regal in bright blues and reds, silver chains hanging on her coat, fur coat sewn by the finest craftsmen and finest animals, the priciest gold emblem found from the country adorning the space right in front of her heart. Peter, Seungwan's horse, snorts from the chilly air, and she could feel the saddle rattling. As the time ticks, Seungwan gets even more conscious of things, like the feel of her sword in its scabbard, like the metallic surface of her locket behind her clothes, like the very girl who still looks like she wants to murder Seungwan any given time.

  
  
  


"Kang Seulgi, last remaining member of Baron Kang's family, sentenced to exile after treason against the holy kingdom and its people," Seungwan starts, the girl—Kang Seulgi—visibly surprised by the statement, holds her arms in front of her chest defensively, "I'd never think I'd see you again, the prized young lady of the Kang family."

  
  
  


Seulgi grits her teeth, "What do you want, your highness?"

  
  
  


It's baffling, because Seungwan smiles in that certain way, the way every royal family member would, the kind that makes Seulgi sick to the core of her stomach. The prince—fucking prince and all her prince things—is a force not to mess with, a person to take into account, a human being with so much cards in her hands you'd run away if her eyes caught your presence. Because Son Seungwan is something that's not aligned with nature, the notorious second daughter of the royal Son family who took her older brother prince title by blood in her own hands. (Scary, scary, so scary no one questions why it's _prince_ Seungwan, not _princess_ Seungwan.)

  
  
  


Seungwan is terrifying, as she hops down her white horse and squats eye to eye to Seulgi. Shoulder length blonde hair covered in snowflakes, skin so pale it merges with the whites of winter, lips so red roses would wilt, eyes so deep anyone could dive right in and not see the surface again. The golden threads of her epaulette sways as Seungwan leans forward.

  
  
  


"You should come to the castle."

  
  
  


Seulgi scoffs.

  
  
  


"At what cost would you propose such a ridiculous request, your highness? I'm very sure there are many more, suitable, people to take back into the holy kingdom."

  
  
  


But Seulgi knows, Seungwan never, ever gives up on anything, because the prince laughs, "the motherland knows everything, Kang Seulgi. Wouldn't you want to abide by her wishes?"

  
  
  


Royalty is sickening.

  
  
  


Seungwan's hands are cold, it reminds Seulgi of the frozen lakes and ice spikes the motherland so carefully nurtures every year. Her body is even colder, as Seungwan pulls Seulgi's arms to hold on when Peter gallops to lightning speed, ignoring passing villagers right and left. It's like embracing winter herself, embodied in the small cocoon of a human body, encased in the royal blood of the holy kingdom, enveloped in years of glory under decades of snow.

  
  
  


"I don't think you have finally found comfort in my low temperature, Seul."

  
  
  


It's the first sign in this lifetime, Seulgi breathes, and Seungwan remembers.

  
  
  
  
  


\-----

  
  
  
  
  


The bar smells too much like cheap perfume and smoke, lights too mismatched and bright, the cocktail Seulgi orders earlier got swapped with some kid's kahlua milk, and the DJ, oh God the DJ, has one hell of an awful taste and all she hears is obnoxiously bad remixes of overplayed pop songs. Suffocating is the best word, and Seulgi feels that is way too generous for this torture.

  
  
  


There's this pretty stranger beside her, ordering plain vodka five times in a row and slams her head to the bar counter everytime she finishes a shot. Seulgi would choose any other seat other than this, but all the seats are wonderfully occupied this Friday night. The pretty stranger orders another glass, the ice clinks for the nth time this evening, Seulgi had enough, really.

  
  
  


"Trying to forget something?"

  
  
  


Pretty stranger is absurd, odd, weird, all the things mentioned above as she smirks at Seulgi, "Forgetting I've ever been to this place at all."

  
  
  


Now that Seulgi notices it, pretty stranger doesn't smell like perfume, probably due to the excessive alcohol, probably due to the numbness of Seulgi's sense of smell from the club's stench, probably due to the slight scent of expensive cigarettes. It's a little like winter, when all she feels is the smoky breath and frozen air. They don't talk, Seulgi winces at the taste of her drink, the ice clinks again.

  
  
  


(She doesn't really know how they end up on the sidewalk, sobbing and linking pinky fingers, making promises they didn't think could happen, laughing crazedly over nonexistent problems and solutions.

  
  
  


"I think this is the first time we're meeting."

  
  
  


"Thank you for pointing that out, miss obvious."

  
  


Pretty stranger's name is Wendy Shon, as she connects her forehead with Seulgi, "Who knows? Maybe we'll meet in another lifetime? Maybe we're soulmates? Maybe we're the first timeline? Maybe we're going backwards?"

  
  
  


Seulgi giggles, "That would be nice, being the first to a grand event of destiny."

  
  
  


"Pinky promise?"

  
  
  


The finger ties.

  
  
  


"Promise."

  
  
  


Their time is running out, Seulgi knows that Wendy knows.)

  
  
  
  


\-----

  
  
  
  


Summer camp is a bad idea, even worse when Seulgi realizes she has to try and get along with one of the more annoying kids around the neighborhood. There's the older Bae Joohyun from the local university as a supervisor, a.k.a the most sensible person in this entire camp, and there's Park Sooyoung who's busy putting firecrackers into everyone's cooking pot alongside Kim Yerim, a.k.a the least sensible people in this entire camp and the duo Seulgi would go lengths to avoid. There are many more, of course, but most of them are just names without faces or faces without names that Seulgi doesn't recognize nor have enough courage to interact with.

  
  
  


When lunchtime rolls in, everyone freaks out over firecrackers exploding in their pots, detentions flying around faster than Seulgi can say _'eh',_ ingredients and cooking utensils thrown all over the place, and it's just her luck that she trips over a firewood and lands on another camp attendee.

  
  
  


"I'm sorry! I didn't see where I was going!"

  
  
  


Seulgi tries to scramble and get up (falling on top of an unknown girl smells like trouble brewing from miles away), but her arms won't budge, there's another pair that is holding her down with full force.

  
  
  


"What?"

  
  
  


The girl is absolutely ethereal. Seulgi's bad with words and stuffs like that, but she's literate enough to compare the girl to Snow White, that one Disney princess she recognized by how much her younger cousins watched it on the TV. Sharp jawline, round eyes, sculpted nose, and wow, this girl is really beautiful. Really beautiful, very beautiful, a little too beautiful.

  
  
  


Seungwan—wait, how did Seulgi even know her name?—opens her mouth and asks, "Do I know you?"

  
  
  


"I... don't know... Seungwan?"

  
  
  


Seungwan nods, "Seulgi."

  
  
  


"Right?"

  
  
  


"Right."

  
  
  


They say in unison, "Do we know each other?"

  
  
  


The answer teeters close to yes, Seulgi doesn't even know why, to this girl she just met literally seconds ago, to this girl that feels like she spent her entire life waiting for, to this girl that just feels so familiar, to this girl that doesn't make sense, to this girl that she knows the name of and knows her name even though they never saw each other before. (Have they?)

  
  
  


"I know you." Seungwan whispers, in a heavy tone, one that has the weight of the solar system mashed into one.

  
  
  


Seulgi murmurs back, "You know me."

  
  
  


(They don't talk to each other during the entirety of the summer camp after that. Seulgi still thinks it's one hell of a chance encounter.

  
  


Who's this Son Seungwan anyway?)

  
  
  
  
  


\-----

  
  
  
  
  


Seulgi was ten when she fell into the pond at the neighbourhood's family funded park. The water is murky, filled with mud and small fishes and tiny frogs and algae. There's no one else around, because small Seulgi has this knack of sneaking out from her room's tiny back window, making up a human silhouette by stacking her pillows under blankets so that her parents gets distracted for a while, carefully holding onto her shoes as she lands on the soft grass outside.

  
  
  


She cries, the image of her parents yelling at her for dirtying her favourite yellow dress, for sneaking out when she still has homework, for skipping the cram school she's supposed to be in this very minute. Her favourite yellow dress is the most important thing, Mama said the bear fairy gave her the prettiest dress in the world and it's the best of its kind. Bear fairy would also get so, _so_ mad.

  
  
  


"You're crying."

  
  
  


Seulgi sees a girl in front of her, with twin braids and chubby cheeks.

  
  
  


"I'm a b-big girl, I don't cry!"

  
  
  


"But you look red, like Piney."

  
  
  


"Who's Piney?"

  
  
  


"My apple friend! You should go meet him sometime!"

  
  
  


The girl smiles, with one missing canine tooth and scrunched nose. All Seulgi sees is that one fat hamster from the pet store down the road near her school.

  
  
  


"I'm Seungwan! But everyone calls me Wendy!" she says, extending a hand to help Seulgi, "What's your name?"

  
  
  


"Seulgi..."

  
  
  


Seungwan takes her home, hand in hand. Seulgi's parents are undeniably thrilled at the fact that their shy daughter just made a new friend, cram school and yellow dress all forgotten in favour of pampering Seungwan. The sight is weird, because Seungwan—Wendy—looks like she belongs there, between the red sofas and checkered carpets, between Seulgi's toys and green backpack, between the counters and wooden dining tables, between Seulgi's parents. It's an unfamiliar feeling, Seulgi thinks it's the déjà vu thing Sooyoung told her last week. 

  
  
  


Seulgi can get used to this.

  
  
  


(On the eve of her nineteenth birthday, on a phone call with Seungwan halfway across the globe—Canada or something, Seulgi can't be bothered to remember the name of the place that took away Seungwan from her life in a split second, even if it's a very common place, even if it's a place Seulgi marks on her atlas.

  
  
  


_"The snow here is really pretty! You really should come over sometime!"_

  
  
  


"I still don't like the cold, Wan-ah."

  
  
  


_"It's worth it, trust me!"_

  
  
  


Seulgi stops, and it's like she's thunderstruck, the phone slips from her hand to the ceramic tiles with a crack, her head spins and spins, it's sickening-

  
  
  


Seungwan.

  
  
  


_"Seul? Seulgi? Everything okay over there? I heard something break, you okay?"_

  
  
  


It's bittersweet. It's not déjà vu. It's a flood of memories.

  
  
  


"No, no, it's just me! Clumsy and all, haha..." Seulgi laughs into the phone, the tears fall again, "don't mind me, how's your girlfriend? I need to hear more about her, you never tell me much!"

  
  
  


_"Joohyun is really private, but I'll make sure you two can meet someday. I can't wait to hang out with my two most favourite people in the whole world, you'll be there right?"_

  
  
  


"Of course, of course."

  
  
  


In this lifetime, Seulgi's a little late.)

  
  
  
  
  


\-----

  
  
  
  
  


Classmate Son Seungwan is an ambiguous entity, a smart kid, an outcast in a sea of rambunctious teenagers, whatever you name it. She sits on the corner of the class, always busy in her own world, doesn't talk at all during group assignments, places her name on the top of the student rankings, removes herself from any kind of cliques you commonly find in high school, it's a little sad really. A transparent thing, one that's noticeable for not being noticed. Sticking out in a juxtapositioned way.

  
  
  


So when the exact same Son Seungwan confronts Kang Seulgi in the gym hall, eyes as wide as saucers, sweat covering her forehead, small arms futilely keeping Seulgi's bigger frame in one place—the world feels like a big fat lie.

  
  
  


"What do you mean you don't remember?! I'm Seungwan! Son Seungwan!"

  
  
  


"I'm sorry- I really don't know...?" Seulgi raises her eyebrows, "you're my classmate for two years? That's all?"

  
  
  


"The divines wouldn't allow this!"

  
  
  


"I don't get what you're talking about!"

  
  
  


"Raven forests? Emerald dragons? Witch cabins! You love the potions Yerim would always make even though they turn your cat into giant eagles! You're the _hero_ for the nine divines!"

  
  
  


At this point, Seulgi is plain out speechless. She never expected the quiet Son Seungwan to be a maniac whose head is way lost in dreamland, and probably needs medical help as soon as possible.

  
  
  


"Seungwan-ssi, I think we should go to a teacher? Get some help?"

  
  
  


"No, you don't understand! Was this the work of Lucifer?! What would the world be without the hero chosen by the nines?!"

  
  
  


This is definitely the peak of her boring high school life, Seulgi thinks.

  
  
  
  


\-----

  
  
  
  


They can see the barren wasteland from here, thousand of kilometres away from the nearest barrier, endless empty ground stretching as far as the edge of the universe, hidden behind the remains of humanity and civilization. The lights are rapidly blinking, maybe the generators are running low. The mattress creaks and every slight movement might make the wood snap again, might make the floor crack open again. It smells like fire and oil, empty magazine rounds clashing concrete, dark gray smoke fills every nook and cranny, home.

  
  
  


"I've had enough cram and sugar bombs this month," Seungwan snuggles closer to Seulgi's chest, all the scent of blood and how the world burns, "maybe the general store will stock up something better?"

  
  
  


"Sooyoung and Yerim are struggling with the recent situations, we've been getting less goods since the rise of raider activity lately."

  
  
  


"Ah, that explains the pile of radioactive meat on our front door."

  
  
  


Seulgi snorts, holds Seungwan and her 10 mm pistol closer, "don't you want a better bed first? Radioactive meat should be the second priority."

  
  
  


"I'll even sleep among molerat corpses as long as you're with me."

  
  
  


"That's contradictory."

  
  
  


It's been more or less a hundred years since the bombs fell, twenty something since the sanctuary was rebuilt, twelve years since Seulgi found Seungwan half-dead in that bloody caravan mess with three slaughtered brahmins and a severed head, eight years since they supported and won the hearts of the people in this tiny city, six years since the memories start coming back. (It's one of the rarer times, when they do remember every single divergence in the path of fate, every single timeline.)

  
  
  


Ironic, because peace is here in the apocalypse. In the press of a pipe rifle against Seulgi's chest, in the cold metal of a 10 mm pistol on Seungwan's back, in the measly comfort of a rock-hard mattress and shattering wood. Her hands are bloody, she sees organs and humans splatter over all the available surface every other day, sometimes it's an eyeball rolling over her boots, killing is as easy as turning your palms, and she can only watch every time Seungwan goes to the neighbouring farm to gather supplies. The world is like dumpster fire dunked on her face, both literally and figuratively.

  
  
  


The generator stops whirring, everything goes pitch black.

  
  
  


"Whose turn it is to turn on the generator again?"

  
  
  


(In the end, Seungwan is her home, wherever it is.)

  
  
  
  


\-----

  
  
  
  


Seulgi's hands are quick and needy, as she fumbles through every button on Seungwan's shirt like it's a goddamn prayer. She slips a lot, they take off much longer than she likes, and Seungwan is definitely way more impatient from the way her nails are digging into the back of Seulgi's neck.

  
  
  


"We- we don't have much time-"

  
  
  


It's a rough kiss, the roughest one Seulgi ever had. All teeth and bites, they're desperate and itching, just begging to be pleased. An out of character thing, because usually they're more patient, slower, tender, anything but rushed fucking in the stall of a dingy bathroom. 

  
  
  


Seungwan tastes a lot like tangy oranges, sunshine, dry ice, and regret.

  
  
  


They shouldn't be here in the first place. Shouldn't even exist, shouldn't even happen, shouldn't even meet, shouldn't even be anything. This is escapism, running away, whatever the fuck Seungwan's parents and society names it. They're just pretending, like every single moan doesn't hurt, like every thrust of Seulgi's fingers doesn't send them over the edge of sanity, like every single time their lips meet it doesn't feel like the world just ended yesterday.

  
  
  


"Fuck, don't stop now, Seul-"

  
  
  


Seungwan is beautiful, as much as she's allowed to have.

  
  
  


(The next day, Seulgi smiles at her co-workers like the innocent person she is, the pure hearted Kang Seulgi everyone loves and adores. Like nothing happened, like how the bruise right below her collarbone stings.

  
  
  


She remembers the bite marks, and relishes how it burns every time Seungwan's husband sends new flowers to be displayed on the manager's desk.

  
  
  


Seulgi's thankful Seungwan doesn't remember.)

  
  
  
  


\-----

  
  
  
  


In this timeline, maybe the seventh or eighth, Seulgi barely counts anymore, they're a little better. Last time she checked, Seungwan doesn't remember, doesn't have a slightest clue of how many centuries it has been for Seulgi to have this peace, where the world is finally alright, and rainbows and sunshine and bubbles are a commodity she gets on a daily basis. It's the closest thing she gets to herself, just this normal girl in South Korea, achieving her longtime dreams with friends-slash-comrades, standing under this bright spotlight and eruptions of cheers, falling asleep with makeup still on during car rides back to the dorms, just- just Seulgi.

  
  
  


Sometimes this facade gets too much, when Seungwan is barely a hairbreadth away, when Seungwan leans to her shoulder in a practiced manner, when her eyes stray away and meets another one during a song. It's a definitive heartbreak, dictated like a textbook example, one that's way too predictable. (Singing chokes her up even more, because it's just so Seungwan, every single melody and note crashes her into a state of reminiscing.)

  
  
  


However, fate is unexpected, because at the time Seungwan is back from recording her collaboration with John Legend-sunbaenim (Seulgi gets collectively laughed at by the two youngest members, _because unnie is just way too fascinating!_ ), the main vocalist is breathless, dazzled, so amused by something that Seulgi can't even guess. Seungwan chuckles and giggles like a silly middle school girl, cheeks painted red and white breath clearly shown in the cold air. 

  
  
  


They stare like that, under the very light snowfall. (Seulgi is mesmerized, but she wouldn't be caught dead saying that.)

  
  
  


"So,"

  
  
  


"So what?"

  
  
  


"So it's true, we're written in the stars, Seulgi-ah."

  
  
  


_Oh._

  
  
  


"Took you long enough, Wan."

  
  
  


“You did say I can go anywhere."

**Author's Note:**

> this is a word vomit produced by my brain at 1 am in the morning, and as usual, english is not my first language so you probably can find a lot of mistakes in here. :D
> 
> feel free to leave your thoughts and comments! i would really appreciate it :D


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